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Louis Braille An Example For All Blind People

October 13, 2010 by Leave a Comment
House of Louis BRAILLE

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Braille Essential for Both Employment and Enjoyment

Recent data suggests that 90% or more of the blind presently employed at least part-time in the United States are Braille readers. This important statistic hints at an even more important idea: Braille is an essential tool in the pursuit of independence and achievement for the blind and sight-impaired. Without it they are certainly faced with a more daunting climb toward equality. Knowing Braille gives the blind their best chance at reaching goals and objectives that might otherwise be unachievable. This is true both for their hopes of success in employment as well as in finding enjoyment in entertainment. Rather than being dependent on what someone else has determined is worthy of being recorded to audio, the blind have access to a much wider range of texts that have been printed in Braille versus those only recorded to CD.

The Value of Braille Relates to Perceptions of the Blind

Unfortunately, there are some who believe that the fact that it takes effort to learn Braille and that there is now technology available to replace it are sufficient reasons to discourage continued efforts to teach Braille to children. This angers many in the blind community, and for good reason. They argue that this viewpoint reveals a prejudice against the blind, specifically as it relates to their expectations of the blind’s potential for advancement and full equality. Every effort that can be made to revive the learning of Braille among children should be heartily pursued. This will insure that they control their own futures, rather than having those futures limited or controlled by others.

Changes Come Incrementally

Rather than applying a broad brush to this problem, it is best to approach it in as local a way as possible. This means that change will start at the individual level. As advocates for the blind, whether these are parents, educators, or government and business leaders, decide to emphasize the learning of Braille to blind children, the tide can be reversed. It’s not too late to start.

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Filed Under: Blindness, Braille, General Tagged With: , , ,

The First Books in Braille

October 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment
Book in braille in the House museum of Louis B...

Image via Wikipedia

The First Books in Braille

The story of the how Braille books began is a humble one. While enrolled in a dank and decrepit school for the blind in Paris, young Louis Braille, along with many other students, was required to work many long hours each day to produce a variety of products such as brooms, toys and even bedsheets that would then sold by the school’s headmaster, Sébastien Guillié. Guillié also required that students labor to put together books with embossed letters in raised form. This was done by applying water-soaked paper to raised letters in order for the tactile shape to dry, allowing the blind students to trace their hands over the shapes. These pages were then glued back-to-back, producing a sheet that was two-sided. So difficult were these to produce that when Braile enrolled in the school, over thirty years after it had been founded, a total of only fourteen books had been produce.

Books Become Doors to the Blind

After Guillié was removed from his position due to a personal scandal, a man named André Pignier replaced him and immediately set about to improve conditions in the school. Among the many changes he implemented, perhaps the most significant was to appoint young Louis Braille as the first-ever blind apprentice teacher at the school. For several years Braille had been experimenting with different forms and materials to try and develop a means of communication and reading. He’d recently been introduced to a system of raised dots that had once been considered for military use, which he quickly adapted for his purposes.

Louis Braille Publishes His First Book

Braille quickly began to put his work to use in the development of the language that would one day be named after him. At only age twenty, he published the first of several books about this subject. Titled Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plain Songs by Means of Dots, for Use by the Blind and Arranged for Them, Louis Braille had discovered his life’s work, which would lead to the lives of untold millions being forever benefited.

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Filed Under: Blindness, Braille Tagged With: , ,

The Blind and Braille’s Beginnings

October 2, 2010 by Leave a Comment

The Blind Capable of Advancement

Although it may be only a myth, the story of how a blind teenager in France was able to identify the type of coin he was given while begging has relevance even today. In the story, which took place in medieval France, seventeen-year-old François Lesueur was one day sitting outside of Saint Germain des Prés church with others who were also sight-impaired, begging for coins. As a man named Valentin Haüy exited the church, he placed a coin in Lesueur’s hand. The teenager immediately identified the denomination that Haüy had given to him, believing it to be more than he normally received. Haüy was immediately struck with the realization that the blind were capable of learning. Although this is universally understood today, in 17th-century France it was assumed that the blind were also mentally impaired and incapable of mental advancement.

The Beginnings of Braille

Haüy’s specific insight had to do with the possibility of the blind being able to read. He invited young Lesueur to join him as a student. Within a few months the teenager had shown he was a quick and ready learner. For example, on one occasion François was using his hands to search for something on his mentor’s desk and happened on a printed item that had an “o” printed firmly. This allowed the boy to decipher the letter. This was the beginnings of Braille. Haüy was soon showing off his young protege before government leaders, scientists and scholars at the French Royal Academy.

Braille Changed the World

For many centuries the blind had been considered incapable of learning. But thanks to Haüy and others, they would have doors opened to them that had long been shut tight. In particular, having the ability to read would shed light onto a world that had been in total darkness. It is not overstating the point to say that Haüy was given a vision on that day outside the Saint Germain des Prés church long ago. What he “saw” has made the world a much better place for those who could not otherwise “see.”

Filed Under: Blindness, Braille, General Tagged With: , ,

The First Books in Braille

September 18, 2010 by Leave a Comment

The story of the how Braille books began is a humble one. While enrolled in a dank and decrepit school for the blind in Paris, young Louis Braille, along with many other students, was required to work many long hours each day to produce a variety of products such as brooms, toys and even bedsheets that would then sold by the school’s headmaster, Sébastien Guillié. Guillié also required that students labor to put together books with embossed letters in raised form. This was done by applying water-soaked paper to raised letters in order for the tactile shape to dry, allowing the blind students to trace their hands over the shapes. These pages were then glued back-to-back, producing a sheet that was two-sided. So difficult were these to produce that when Braile enrolled in the school, over thirty years after it had been founded, a total of only fourteen books had been produce.

Books Become Doors to the Blind

After Guillié was removed from his position due to a personal scandal, a man named André Pignier replaced him and immediately set about to improve conditions in the school. Among the many changes he implemented, perhaps the most significant was to appoint young Louis Braille as the first-ever blind apprentice teacher at the school. For several years Braille had been experimenting with different forms and materials to try and develop a means of communication and reading. He’d recently been introduced to a system of raised dots that had once been considered for military use, which he quickly adapted for his purposes.

Louis Braille Publishes His First Book

Braille quickly began to put his work to use in the development of the language that would one day be named after him. At only age twenty, he published the first of several books about this subject. Titled Method of Writing Words, Music, and Plain Songs by Means of Dots, for Use by the Blind and Arranged for Them, Louis Braille had discovered his life’s work, which would lead to the lives of untold millions being forever benefited.

Filed Under: Braille, General Tagged With: , ,

The Blind and Braille’s Beginnings

August 3, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Although it may be only a myth, the story of how a blind teenager in France was able to identify the type of coin he was given while begging has relevance even today. In the story, which took place in medieval France, seventeen-year-old François Lesueur was one day sitting outside of Saint Germain des Prés church with others who were also sight-impaired, begging for coins. As a man named Valentin Haüy exited the church, he placed a coin in Lesueur’s hand. The teenager immediately identified the denomination that Haüy had given to him, believing it to be more than he normally received. Haüy was immediately struck with the realization that the blind were capable of learning. Although this is universally understood today, in 17th-century France it was assumed that the blind were also mentally impaired and incapable of mental advancement.

The Beginnings of Braille

Haüy’s specific insight had to do with the possibility of the blind being able to read. He invited young Lesueur to join him as a student. Within a few months the teenager had shown he was a quick and ready learner. For example, on one occasion François was using his hands to search for something on his mentor’s desk and happened on a printed item that had an “o” printed firmly. This allowed the boy to decipher the letter. This was the beginnings of Braille. Haüy was soon showing off his young protege before government leaders, scientists and scholars at the French Royal Academy.

Braille Changed the World

For many centuries the blind had been considered incapable of learning. But thanks to Haüy and others, they would have doors opened to them that had long been shut tight. In particular, having the ability to read would shed light onto a world that had been in total darkness. It is not overstating the point to say that Haüy was given a vision on that day outside the Saint Germain des Prés church long ago. What he “saw” has made the world a much better place for those who could not otherwise “see.”

Filed Under: Blindness, Braille Tagged With: , ,